Saturday, March 24, 2012

Freedom
of worship versus freedom of religion: Words are powerful tools. They
can inflict lifelong emotional scars, and can warm the coldest of
hearts. They can also form culture and mold public opinion.
“Pro-choice” was a decided use of words to move public opinion. Its
emotional impact is softer than “pro-abortion.” The media refuses to use
the term “pro-life advocates” but instead refers always
to “anti-abortion advocates” because words form public opinion and mold
cultural shifts. Beware of a deliberate choice of words now being used
to form the public mind. Increasingly we hear from government
officials and the media that the USA supports “freedom of worship.”
However, this is very different than “freedom of religion.”

Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, commented on this change
in language. “The… rhetorical shift from supporting 'freedom of
religion' to 'freedom of worship' paralleled an earlier shift in
Russia," he said. "'Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the
Constitution of the former Soviet Union,” Cardinal George said. “You
could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do
nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship-no schools,
religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity,
ministry for justice and the works of mercy that flow naturally from a
living faith. All of these were co-opted by the government. We fought a
long Cold War to defeat that vision of society.”